Using the NC as a plain terminal with multiple consoles.
The Built-in Motif extensions are a lot easier to use than the
default setup ;-)
Pressing the Pause/Break key will pop up the NC Menu at any time.

The network station allows configuration access via telnet sessions on
several ports. The ones I know are by default configured like this:

port 87, service SerialSD, (raw - serial daemon)

port 5964, service ParallelD, (raw - parallel daemon)

port 5976, service FILED, (raw - file manager)

port 5977, service PREFD, (raw - user preferences)

port 5978, service DIAG, (raw - diagnostics)

port 5979, service CONFIGD, (raw - configuration)

port 5996, service FILED, (telnet - file manager)

port 5997, service PREFD, (telnet - user preferences)

port 5998, service DIAG, (telnet - diagnostics)

port 5999, service CONFIGD, (telnet - configuration)

You can easliy access the TCP ports by using a telnet session
telnet NC-IPaddr port.
Be careful whether there is a password check enabled.
The passphrase 'public' (without quotes) worked for me.

Port 5978

Remote Logging
It's the same as the messages console in your CLE.

The format of each entry stretches over 2 lines.

+ DD:HH:MM:SS
NSKxxxx: ...

The first line covers date using the string that counts days, hours,
minutes and
seconds since boot time. The second line starts with an message identifier
and the
english plain text message after a separating colon, e.g.:

[...]
+ 25:17:31:43
NSK5641: unable to get current time from 10.10.90.149
+ 26:03:29:10
NSK4708: automatic powerdown to Suspend state after 40 minutes idle time
+ 26:03:49:10
NSK4708: automatic powerdown to Powerdown state after 60 minutes idle time
+ 26:07:22:38
NSK8001: accepting DIAGD connection from 10.10.90.150
[...]

Port 5999 CONFIGD

Use this port to do remote configuration for the NC by an telnet session
(telnet
NC-IPaddr 5999).

Here are some first commands and hints that seemed to me to be useful.
You can apparently configure the NC remotely - online. The configuration
files use the same format, but do allow only an offline configuration.
As an alternative you may use the the setup
function
from the NC menu window.

First of all you will need to login if you defined a password.
Logging into the NC should show you a sequence like:

Being logged in, you can start configurating.
The configuration syntax is identical to
/usr/netstation/configs/ the setup files.
Be aware that the behaviour within this command line interface is
the same as using the gui, i.e. when you set
(you may omit this keyword)
some parameter you need to apply it.
Otherwise you will not see any effect.
There is a /usr/netstation/configs/configd.doc
documentation file (- more precisely I would call it a
reference script -) delivered with the netstation software.
(The links are configured for the RS/6000 installation.)

You probably want to start straight into the matter.
So for learning it the hard way, I recommend some commands to start with:.

help - shows you all possible commands with some really short
explanation. Some commands concerning locking should be used with care.

get groups - tells you which groups of configuration options
are available. These are the subjects in the setup browser of the NC
menu. You may think of them as section headers. These group names are
also the first token in the name of the
configurable items within it.

get boot ... slow in answering and shows you how the boot
parameters of the NC are currently set.

get tftp - again some basic boot parameters. On my NC
all are read only statistics

get tcpip - most useful for reading some TCP statistics, less
useful for changing the IP setup, i.e. name servers, local DNS cache, ARP
configuration.

get file - again slow response. A long list of parameters.
Most of them are again self explaining. Be careful when changing the port
parameters, since you might have problems to find them later on. Also some
important boot parameters can be
found here.

get nfs - shows NFS configuration. You most likely will only
need it, if you use a memory PCMCIA card. Otherwise you will have little
to import or export.

info - shows you NAME, ACCESS, and PROTECTION of a
given or all variables. Helpful, if you work with protect

You need some network management software to work with it.
Among the most famous commercial ones are (Tivoli) NetView and HP
OpenView.
They provide an easy-to-use user interfaces. For linux you usually use
cmu-snmp for command line and TCL/TK-based scotty
for visual frontend. (I like command line and that's what I am going to
explain)

Some general statement

The network station is completely configurable as already noted.
In allows examinations and alterations while being used.
The changes take effect either immediately, at session startup,
or at boot time (see configd.doc).
All reads from the network station do not unveal the users display
contents, and therefore the users' privacy is respected
(if the application itself respects it as well).
Only the configuration may be retrieved,
but not the window contents (at least not this way).

How to configure network management ?

There is a file in ASN.1 called snmpmib.txt in the
installation directory of the recent releases that allows your
network management console resolve the mib symbols.
Otherwise you see dot-separated sequences of numbers only.
So best is to append this file (comments start with double
minus "--") to the mib.txt file of your SNMP software.
You can use snmpwalk, snmpget, snmpset to browse and modify the symbols
you have retrieved.

How to start managing?

Simplest way to start managing is to execute the commands

snmpwalk NC-IPaddr public system
snmpget NC-IPaddr public system.sysDescr.0
snmpset NC-IPaddr public system.sysContact.0 s"MailTo:Kris.Buytaert@advalvas.b$
snmpwalk NC-IPaddr public system

Sit back and think a little bit about it. It is easy to work with.

If you never had experience with SNMP commands you should read some
SNMP
documentation, take reference to configd.doc.
For more details refer to SNMP-HowTos.

What do you manage?

It works nearly the same way as the telnet session to the configuration
port,
except that each command is transferred separately to the NC using UDP.
The advantage is that you do not have to work interactively, you work with
UDP
instead of TCP, which avoids retries to network stations that are down.
you must have the privileges for being successful - 'public' is a good
community for reading...

The NetworkStation Manager is a piece of software running on the boot
server. It has a web interface and allows you to administrate all your
NetworkStations from a single point.
You can define users and groups and provide a customised desktop for each
of them.

This is required if you don't use a windowmanager provided by Linux.
It basically works by parsing and writing the configuration files. However, Linux is not a supported plattform of this software. So as a workaround you have to change the configuration files by hand or have an
OS/390, an AIX or a Windows NT do the job for you. Please be aware, that
for the personalisation in users and groups of your NetworkStation
Desktop, you need the login daemon running on your boot server. This
daemon is not available on Linux. So personalisation has to be done by
naming the configuration files according to the user sitting
at the Station.

, IBM PubNumber SG24-5844-00.
For the use with Linux it may be helpful for you to read
IBM Network Station - RS/6000 Notebook,
IBM PubNumber SG24-2016-01.
It explains the use with the RS/600 AIX System (an interesting flavour of
Unix).

Save with Apply and as a file.
Add this file to:
/netstation/prodbase/configs/defaults.dft

On the printer side

Assumed is a cups printsystem.
You have to be root to administrate cups.
Within a webbrowser open the cups-setup (localhost:631).
In Administration -> Add Printer
Name your printer and give the device URI:

lpd://ppp.qqq.rrr.sss/PARALLEL1,

where ppp.qqq.rrr.sss = IP-adress of the Netstation.

There is a Redbook about printing, 'IBM Network Station Printing Guide',
IBM
PubNumber SG24-5212-00. Redbooks can be found at
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/

I have tested memory cards manufactured by Centennial (IBM
gives you a more complete list of memory cards that work with the NC).
I recommend a minimum capacity of 20 MB.
If you have less you will have less functionality on the card.
Even 20MB is hardly sufficient. Once a NC is installed
with a memory card it can serve as peer booting host for other NCs
in its network vicinity.

You need to connect to the file manager port 5996.
Keep a eye on your access protections in your configuration files.
If you use the memory card with the network station for the first
time, you need to format it. You should mount it and export it.
once you have exported it (showmount -e NC-IPaddr) you
can mount it to your boot server (mount NC-IPaddr:/local /mnt)
and transfer the setup directory( cp -r /usr/netstation/* /mnt).
Be careful not to forget some necessary files, particularily some
X11 files are needed. The full directory will not fit on the card.
Avoid erasing on the chip card, claiming the freed space isn't easy
and wastes space.

For more detailed information you have place an PRPQ at IBM
(whatever this means), contact some IBM representative or contact

1. Power Off
2. open it, everything attached
3. above the pcmcia slot, right hand there are two blank metal spots,
about 1 mm square, connect them (e.g. with a screwdriver) and power on the
netstation
4. watch the boot sequence, some when it should say sth. like "NVRAM
cleared or so"
5. Power Off, close it, and everything should be wonderful!

Most units (8361-110 for sure) features not only support for X (as an
Xterminal) and NC (Windows NT Terminal Server) usage, it's built-in
console also has
support for serial (locally attached and dial-up using PPP/SLIP, also
telnet connections.